Trusted Media Brands Announces Acquisition Of Leading Streaming And Social Video Company Jukin Media To Form Multi-Faceted Digital Media Company

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a year of significant growth, Trusted Media Brands, a portfolio of user-generated and community-based lifestyle brands including Taste of Home, Family Handyman, and Reader's Digest, has acquired Jukin Media, the rapidly growing and award-winning streaming and social video company whose properties include FailArmy, People Are Awesome, The Pet Collective, and WeatherSpy. With Jukin Media's world-class content production capabilities and its proven ability to build massive audiences, the combined company will provide advertisers with unmatched power to reach consumers across web, social, CTV, OTT and print properties with brand-safe, unique and authentic content. The acquisition further establishes Trusted Media Brands as a digital-first media company that offers brands and commerce partners best-in-class opportunities to connect with highly engaged audiences.

"Trusted Media Brands' powerful network of brand relationships, our growing portfolio of community-driven lifestyle media brands and our proprietary first-party data platform, together with Jukin Media's social media, video production and streaming TV acumen, are positioning us for our future and fueling significant opportunity for long-term growth,'' said Bonnie Kintzer, CEO and President of Trusted Media Brands. "Our audience benefits from an even broader array of engaging content to fuel their favorite pastimes, and our collective capabilities provide our advertising partners with increased revenue-driving opportunities and a wider audience base across emergent and established platforms."

The acquisition of Jukin Media quadruples Trusted Media Brands' monthly audience reach and combines its portfolio of community-driven content properties whose passionate audiences have increased 40% year over year along with a commerce business that has grown 75% in the past year. Jukin Media's portfolio of properties reaches more than 220 million fans online and generates more than two billion minutes of video viewed each month across streaming TV and social media. The addition of Jukin Media's portfolio will immediately strengthen Trusted Media Brands' existing vertical coverage in food, home, lifestyle and wellness, and adds additional expertise in categories including pets, entertainment and humor.

"This is an amazing moment for the incredibly hard-working team at Jukin Media. We've spent the past decade pouring ourselves into this business, and that dedication shows in the success we've seen across streaming, production, social and licensing," said Jonathan Skogmo, Jukin Media's Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "Both Trusted Media Brands and Jukin Media are unquestioned leaders in user-generated content and we share a similar growth mindset that permeates everything that we do. It's a remarkable fit, and we couldn't be more excited about the shared vision we have with Trusted Media Brands to continue growing the combined entity."

"We are so excited to be combining these two great companies into one powerhouse. Trusted Media Brands has built an exciting, innovative and forward-thinking organization that has tremendous expertise in areas like editorial, first-party data, commerce, and direct-to-consumer businesses, which is a perfect fit for Jukin Media's revolutionary approach to storytelling and monetization of user-generated video content," said Jukin Media Co-Chief Executive Officer, Lee Essner. "With this acquisition, Trusted Media Brands is getting not only a social and streaming-first powerhouse, but also a profitable, sustainable business with diverse revenue streams – one that has thrived and continued to grow despite having only raised $6 million in investor capital."

Jukin Media was founded in 2010 by Skogmo with the goal of supplying the worldwide media, advertising, and entertainment industries with safe, high-quality user-generated video content. Today, the company is the world's foremost licensor of user-generated video to TV, advertising and publishing companies. In 2020 alone, the company licensed more than 2,000 video clips for use in major advertising campaigns and in addition licensed clips on TV and digital properties in nearly 100 countries. 

Trusted Media Brands comprises leading lifestyle brands that deliver best-in-class content to a highly engaged audience of nearly 60 million, or more than a quarter of U.S. adults nationwide. The company is differentiated in its high level of user engagement, including time spent on site that is nearly 70% higher than its competitive set and monthly video views that top the viewership of similar food, DIY and lifestyle sites combined.

"We have seen tremendous momentum across our web and social properties year over year, with video viewership and revenue at an all-time high. In fact, video revenue outpaced video play growth due to strategic monetization efforts that are authentic to our brands," said Vince Errico, President of Digital, Trusted Media Brands. "Jukin Media's capabilities will take these strengths to the next level and pave the way for our future vision of what it means to be a leader in today's media landscape."

Jukin Media's brands and employees will operate as part of an expanded portfolio of community-driven, user-generated content and lifestyle brands under the Trusted Media Brands umbrella. The addition of Jukin Media establishes Trusted Media Brands as a global company, with offices currently located in New York, Milwaukee, Wis., Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., Chicago, Canada, and now, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, India and Singapore. Trusted Media Brands was represented by Latham & Watkins LLP and Progress Partners served as Trusted Media Brand's exclusive investment banker in association with the transaction; Jukin Media was represented by Paul Hastings LLP and Houlihan Lokey served as Jukin's exclusive financial advisor in association with the transaction.

Media Contacts:
Julia Fennelly, [email protected], Kite Hill PR, [email protected]

About Trusted Media Brands
Trusted Media Brands is a portfolio of community-powered brands that reaches nearly 60 million people nationwide to inspire their daily quest for knowledge, skills and joy. As a digital platform of scale, we offer best-in-class insights and data-driven marketing solutions that reach engaged communities across food, home, lifestyle and wellness content. See what's new at Taste of Home, Family Handyman, Reader's Digest, The Healthy and Birds and Blooms.

About Jukin Media
Jukin Media is a global entertainment company built on the belief that the future of storytelling is user generated. Jukin Media produces original content for TV, the web, and emerging platforms, and is owner/ operator of a portfolio of digital video properties that includes FailArmy, People Are Awesome, The Pet Collective, and WeatherSpy; the properties combine for more than 220 million fans and 2 billion monthly video views on social media, and more than 11 million monthly hours viewed on streaming TV platforms. Additionally, Jukin Media provides a wide range of solutions that allow premium brands, publishers, and media networks to commercially utilize user-generated video content.­­­­­

SOURCE Trusted Media Brands

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